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PayPal Here Review

Review Updated
Justin Guinn
By: Justin Guinn

Our Small Business Expert

Many or all of the products here are from our partners that compensate us. It’s how we make money. But our editorial integrity ensures our experts’ opinions aren’t influenced by compensation. Terms may apply to offers listed on this page.

PayPal Here is an easy choice for merchants starting a new business that need mobile payment processing capabilities. The platform provides all the tools you need to sell, manage inventory, customers, employees, and conduct reporting.

Ratings Methodology
PayPal Here
Rating image, 3.70 out of 5 stars.
3.70/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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Bottom Line: PayPal Here is a payment processing solution that also provides basic point of sale capabilities like inventory management, customer and employee management, and sales reporting.

No subscription fee

2.7% per swiped transaction

3.5% plus $0.15 per manually entered transaction

2.9% plus $0.30 per online transaction

  • Ease Of use
    Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
    4.00/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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    Support
    Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
    4.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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    = Excellent
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    Pricing
    Rating image, 3.50 out of 5 stars.
    3.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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    Features
    Rating image, 2.50 out of 5 stars.
    2.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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    • Easy to set up and sell
    • Accepts nearly all payments
    • Includes additional PayPal services
    • Basic management features
    • Average processing fees
    • Partners required to scale

PayPal Here is a mobile application that combines payment processing tools with basic retail management tools. It's a great fit for new businesses that need to quickly ramp up payment processing, including multiple processing options such as card and chip readers, online payments, and invoicing.

Merchants and sole proprietors can expect industry average swipe fees and processing rates for PayPal Here.

Read on to learn more about PayPal Here's features, benefits, rates, and more. You'll learn how the PayPal POS (point of sale) system stacks up with more traditional systems and see if it's the best fit for your business.

Who is PayPal Here for?

PayPal Here is designed for any business needing payment card processing capabilities. Just like other mobile payment processors, PayPal Here empowers businesses of any kind to accept payment wherever they need.

Along with the PayPal card readers, the full solution also includes PayPal point of sale capabilities. PayPal POS system includes basic inventory, customer, employee, and sales management features.

The solution is a great fit for small retailers and merchants to collect payments in-store as well as off-site at farmer's markets and other such events. It can also serve businesses, such as plumbers and handymen, that prefer to collect payment immediately after delivering services rather than invoicing customers.

PayPal Here features

PayPal Here's core function is to help you get paid wherever you need to do business, via a smartphone or tablet. But the features don't end with mobile payment processing. When you subscribe to PayPal Here, you get access to the range of business solutions from your PayPal Business account.

Screenshot of PayPal Here's home dashboard for business accounts.

Home screen dashboard for a PayPal Business account. (via PayPal) Image source: Author

Read on for descriptions of the full range of features provided by PayPal Here.

Payment processing options

PayPal Here provides POS hardware card readers that process both magnetic stripe and EMV chip cards as well as NFC mobile payments such as Apple Pay. The early PayPal Here card reader used the headphone jacks that have mostly all been removed from recent smartphones.

New PayPal Here card readers rely on Bluetooth connectivity to smartphones or dedicated tablets for payment processing.

The PayPal Here reader swiping a credit card.

PayPal Here reader accepts swiping mag stripes, inserting chip cards, and mobile payments. (via PayPal) Image source: Author

Invoicing

PayPal Here lets businesses collect payments immediately upon completing sales or services rendered. But there are still situations where an invoice may be the preferred method for a transaction, and PayPal Here includes capabilities to send invoices and collect payment even when you aren't with your customers.

Screenshot of PayPal Here's invoice template for small businesses.

The invoice sent to the customers using the PayPal Here invoice tool. (via PayPal) Image source: Author

Online payments

PayPal Checkout provides your customers with a simple, fast, and trusted payment option. It supports payments through PayPal accounts, Venmo accounts, and PayPal Credit as well as major credit and debit cards.

PayPal's Smart Payment Buttons streamline the checkout process, optimizing the checkout experience by making it as easy as possible.

Screenshot of PayPal Here's "Buy Now" button on a business website.

Adding a PayPal Buy Now button to your site is as easy as inputting the product information and copying some basic HTML to your site builder. (Via WebStarts) Image source: Author

Inventory Management

Your PayPal Business account includes the ability to track inventory using your PayPal payment buttons. You can set up email notifications to automatically alert you once your inventory count for a particular item hits an established threshold.

Depending on the nature of your business, you can use PayPal's inventory tracking capabilities to block customers from purchasing products that are out of stock.

A screenshot of PayPal Here's inventory management tool to track inventory.

PayPal provides an easy mechanism for adding and removing items from your inventory as well as managing your full inventory list. (via PayPal) Image source: Author

Customer management

PayPal Business centralizes and provides access to all of the customer information tied to your PayPal account. You can review transaction histories, import and edit contact information, and reach out to customers directly from the app.

And PayPal Marketing, included with your PayPal Business account, provides sales and marketing analysis and insights about your online shoppers. These marketing capabilities support customer acquisition, highlight where customers are in the sales process, and provide tools for closing sales.

This all helps you and your staff to be good salesmen.

Screenshot of PayPal Here's customer reports to analyzed customer's information.

Actionable customer insights empower you to execute more precise marketing. (via PayPal) Image source: Author

Staff management

PayPal Here supports multiple employee sales activity which you can tie back to your PayPal Business account. This centralizes business-wide sales while also recording individual associate sales performance.

PayPal Here also allows you to adjust user permissions so that sensitive tasks, such as administering refunds or changing pricing strategies, require an admin password.

A screenshot of PayPal Here's mobile app to manage employees and assign permissions.

Manage staff access and permissions from your PayPal Here app. (via PayPal) Image source: Author

Dashboards and reports

PayPal Here supports customized business performance analytics with built-in dashboard and reporting capabilities for monitoring sales tactics. PayPal's reporting via your PayPal Business account provides anything from a quick sales summary to detailed, time-specified sales reporting.

You can see everything from total sales to PayPal's swipe fees and chargebacks for up to three years. Reports can be downloaded as easy-to-read PDFs or as CSV files, which provide much more granularity but require manual analysis.

Screenshot of PayPal Here's reporting tools for monitoring business performance.

PayPal Business provides easily digestible reports and detailed sales analysis. (via PayPal) Image source: Author

Partner solutions network

While PayPal Here and the more robust PayPal Business provide a surprising amount of baked-in capabilities, you can also combine PayPal with any of their wide range of partner solutions.

These solutions range from site builders to true POS systems, detailed inventory management capabilities to shipping and fulfillment solutions.

A screenshot of PayPal Here's integrations and apps to expand its capabilities.

PayPal allows you to call in more specialized partners to build your business as you see fit. (via PayPal) Image source: Author

PayPal Here ease of use

Accepting payments with PayPal Here could not be easier. You simply need to sign up and download the app. Then you select and order the card reader you want to use. Once it arrives, you connect the reader to your device with the PayPal Here app via Bluetooth, and you're ready to sell.

A screenshot of PayPal Here's steps to get started with the software.

As for all the additional features embedded in your PayPal Business account, it's as simple as logging into your account and choosing what you'd like to do from the tools on your dashboard.

Those capabilities, such as inventory or customer management, aren't as extensive as you'd find in a traditional POS system, but they're enough to get your business started.

PayPal Here pricing

PayPal Here has no app subscription fee, but services aren't necessarily provided for free. PayPal generates revenue through the transaction processing fees it charges merchants, which shouldn't be surprising. All merchants pay their merchant service provider these fees for processing card transactions.

Research from Fool.com found that the average merchant pays fees between 1.28% + $0.05 to 2.65% + $0.10 per transaction.

Here's a detailed breakdown of the PayPal Here transaction fees:

  • PayPal charges a 2.7% fee for card swipes/inserts in the United States. For example, if a customer buys $100 worth of goods from your farmer's market stand, PayPal takes $2.70 in fees for processing that payment.
  • The fee jumps to 3.5% plus $0.15 if the transaction has to be keyed in rather than swiped or inserted.
  • Online payments and invoices are subjected to a higher fee as well. PayPal Here charges 2.9% plus an additional $0.30 per online transaction.

PayPal Here support

PayPal Here offers three levels of support. Along with in-app help, live chat, and a support call center, the most extensive support service is the PayPal help center.

The help center consists of resolution submission and support for PayPal account holders, support from the PayPal community of over 3 million users, and a messaging center to communicate with support.

The help center also offers a search function with detailed answers to common technical and business-related questions.

A screenshot of PayPal Here's support center for troubleshooting and questions.

PayPal's help center has detailed answers to many of your questions. (via PayPal) Image source: Author

Benefits of PayPal Here

PayPal Here is one of many combined mobile credit card processors/mobile point of sale systems to hit the merchant market in recent years, Square being the most prominent. PayPal Here has quickly become Square's primary competitor in this space, and its solution provides a convincing benefit set for users.

Benefits of PayPal Here include:

  • Easy to set up and start selling via in-store, on the go, online, and invoicing
  • Seamless checkout process for customers
  • Accepting all types of payments across most any mobile device
  • Access money immediately after sales with PayPal account
  • Tap into extensive PayPal Business and PayPal Partner Network tools

PayPal Here empowers you to sell now

PayPal Here and the additional benefits of your PayPal Business account empower small businesses to start selling and processing payments in no time. Depending on the nature of your business, PayPal Here can be everything you'll ever need.

If you project high growth in both online and in-store sales, PayPal isn't the best option to scale with your business, but it is a great option to support your sales management needs right out of the gate.

How PayPal Here Compares

Robust Integrations Advanced POS Capabilities Online Payments Compatible Hardware
PayPal Here Yes Yes Yes
Square Yes Yes Yes Yes
Stripe Payments Yes Yes Yes Yes
Shopify Point of Sale Yes Yes Yes Yes
Clover POS Yes Yes Yes

FAQs

  • Yes, you will need a business account. Your personal account is limited to sending and receiving money and making purchases. You must create a PayPal Business account to access all the benefits of PayPal Here, including operating under your business name, accepting payments, recording purchase orders, and managing your business.

  • You must provide PayPal with legal information such as the business name and address as well as Employer Identification Number (EIN) or Social Security Number (SSN). PayPal also requires you to submit your date of birth and last four digits of your Social Security Number to confirm your identity.

  • Your customers do not need to have a PayPal account to purchase from you. They are able to use cash, credit and debit cards, mobile payment options such as Apple Pay, and even checks to pay you for your goods and services.

Our Small Business Expert

Justin Guinn
Experienced content leader empowering businesses of all sizes to employ the strategies and technologies needed to generate growth and sustain success. Always excited to analyze trends, conduct interviews, and dig into the data to build helpful content for readers across industries and disciplines. My work has been cited in notable publications like The New York Times, Forbes, CNN, and TIME Magazine. I’ve also been featured on numerous market/industry-specific blogs such as Groupon’s merchant blog and Yelp’s business center blog.